Apple and Google’s app-store management sparks US lawsuits, Asian regulatory pushback

MLex Market Insight

You don’t have to be a gamer to know that the company behind Fortnite, Epic Games, has picked a fight with two powerful Silicon Valley giants: Apple and Google. The makers of the popular online game argue that Apple’s restrictions preventing other forms of app distribution from being available to Apple users amount to the company exercising — and abusing — its monopoly power. The legal challenge in the US is just the latest example of antitrust concerns surrounding how both Apple and Google manage their app stores. In South Korea, concerns focusing on Google’s plans to restrict on-line payments through its Android store to just one payment method — its own — has attracted the attention of regulators and government. It has also seen some outspoken lawmakers vowing to take whatever measures are required to bring the platforms to heel.